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Tag Archives: prejudice

Britons show Victorian attitudes to epilepsy as children who suffer from the condition are accused of being ‘possessed’

21 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by a1000shadesofhurt in Neuroscience/Neuropsychology/Neurology, Young People

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Bullying, Children, discrimination, epilepsy, friends, possession, prejudice, seizure, teachers

Britons show Victorian attitudes to epilepsy as children who suffer from the condition are accused of being ‘possessed’

One in five children who suffer with epilepsy has been accused of being “possessed” after having a seizure, according to shocking new research.

Britons’ Victorian attitudes to the condition are exposed in a report published by the charity Young Epilepsy.

It finds that over three quarters of people of all ages have experienced discrimination as a result of their epilepsy. More than 40 per cent of children have experienced discrimination or exclusion from their peers, and almost a third have faced discrimination from teachers.

In addition, two fifths have faced discrimination from strangers, and 8 per cent by doctors and medical professionals, according to polling for Young Epilepsy by Opinion Matters.

Negative reactions from others after a child suffers a seizure include being told being told that epilepsy is contagious, which happened to a third of affected children, and being asked if they could speak to spirits, which occurred to 18 per cent.

David Ford, chief executive of Young Epilepsy, said: “It’s a level of prejudice more akin to 1913 than 2013. We knew there was some discrimination but we had no idea it was on this scale.”

Conservative MP Laura Sandys said: “I’m epileptic and I know from personal experience that this is what people think.

“There’s been a sea-change in people’s perceptions of most disabilities, but epilepsy still seems to be seen as something you keep quiet about; it still hasn’t shaken off that perception that you’re somehow possessed by the devil or demonised.”

Ms Sandys, who is chair of the All-Party-Parliamentary Group on Epilepsy, said: “There have only been two MPs who have declared their epilepsy, but statistically there should be another four.”

Experts are concerned that this prejudice means that children with epilepsy are less inclined to be open and discuss their condition, something which could have serious health implications.

This guardedness continues into later life, with 55 per cent of those adults who were questioned in the survey saying that they never disclose their epilepsy to new people because they fear a negative reaction from them.

Professor Helen Cross, Prince of Wales chair of childhood epilepsy at University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital, said: “These high levels of prejudice have a huge impact on how children can manage their condition. If you’re worried about being bullied then you don’t want to talk to people about it, which means you don’t have buddies who know what to do if you have a seizure.”

She added: “Epilepsy is as common as diabetes, and in childhood it’s more common, but while I bet every schoolchild can name someone they know with diabetes, I’m sure that’s not the case with epilepsy.”

Case study: Elliot Harden, 11

Julie Harden from Oxted, Surrey, is mother of Elliot, 11, who suffers from a life threatening form of complex epilepsy

“Some people are really quite nasty about epilepsy. In conversations Elliot has been called ‘a retard’, ‘mad’, ‘not right’ and ‘that scary boy’. Even coming into my house people jump back from him as if they’re worried they’re going to be attacked.

I’ve got friends who won’t come round to our house with their children because they’re scared of what they might see. One time my other son Cameron, who is 8, was playing with other children upstairs. Elliot came up to see them and the other children ran away downstairs.

One of my neighbours even bangs on the wall saying ‘f-ing this and that’ when Elliot is having a seizure and fighting for his life. Another neighbour ran out of the house when he had a seizure.

Parkinson’s sufferers ‘face abuse’ because of symptoms

15 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by a1000shadesofhurt in Neuroscience/Neuropsychology/Neurology

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abuse, discrimination, drunkenness, Parkinson's disease, prejudice, symptoms

Parkinson’s sufferers ‘face abuse’ because of symptoms

Parkinson’s disease sufferers are being subjected to “intolerable levels of prejudice”, a charity has warned, after it was found that two in five of those afflicted with the disease have experienced discrimination because of their symptoms.

Parkinson’s UK said that 41 per cent of sufferers say they have been discriminated against because they suffer from the disease.

And 8 per cent said they have experienced hostility or have been verbally abused in public because of symptoms of the neurological condition , according to a new poll conducted by Parkinson’s UK on 2,900 sufferers.

The degenerative disease affects 127,000 people across the UK, and symptoms can include shaking, slowness of movement and rigidity.

The research, undertaken to highlight Parkinson’s Awareness Week, also found that one in five Parkinson’s sufferers have had their symptoms mistaken for drunkenness.

And almost a quarter of sufferers admitted they avoid going out at busy times of the day because they are wary of people’s reactions to them.

Steve Ford, chief executive at Parkinson’s UK, said: “Our research confirms that far too many people with Parkinson’s are having to battle against intolerable levels of prejudice.

“Life with Parkinson’s can be challenging enough, but when that is coupled with feeling scared to even go out in public for fear of freezing in a busy queue and being tutted or stared at – as over half the people we spoke to do – life can feel incredibly cruel.

“Time and again people with Parkinson’s have to fight against the old stereotype that the condition is just a tremor. This basic misunderstanding has sentenced people with Parkinson’s to a life of hurtful comments, being refused service in shops and even being shouted at in the street all because people have mistaken their speech or movement problems – a common symptom of the condition – for drunkenness.”

Sufferer Ruth Martin, a mother of two from Holmfirth, west Yorkshire, said that since her diagnosis in 2008 she has struggled to deal with how people react to her condition.

The 41-year-old said: “I’ve experienced all sorts of discrimination since I’ve had Parkinson’s, but one incident really stands out. I was having a bad day and was waiting in a queue in a pharmacy. The man standing behind me with his wife said really loudly to her “just stand back a bit love, the woman in front has been drinking”.

“I felt like crying but even so I told him that I had Parkinson’s. The whole shop was listening and there was part of me that wanted to scream out – I felt like I couldn’t go anywhere.

“People have been very confrontational towards me, and I have even been followed round a supermarket by a security guard who obviously thought I was acting suspiciously. I just wish that if people saw others staggering or struggling that it would cross their minds to wonder if they’ve got Parkinson’s.”

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